Back in 2001 we had visited Spiennes to find ….. nothing but a field! So, when we were “over on the Continent” (note our very British way of looking at the World!!) for the WH Site “get together” in Aug 2015, we were determined to get more out of a repeat visit. We knew that a lot had changed across the 14 years, particularly in the form of a new Visitor Centre named “SILEX’S” (= “Silex i.e “Flint” of Spiennes”) which had only opened in April 2015 and which, apparently, offered more chance to make a descent than was previously available.

So, I started trying to make arrangements in early July. At the same time I made a booking for the Rietveld Schroeder Haus – so easy with a simple Web booking system which operated with exemplary Dutch efficiency. But, oh how different for Spiennes!! At the risk of over-extending this review it might be of use to others who want to do a descent to recount our experience. The prime method for making a reservation is by telephone to Mons Tourist Office – not very “user friendly” for those living overseas! Trying to “improve” the system, I e-mailed the Tourist Office which passed me on to another e-mail address for the booking …. which, at first, answered my questions by simply cutting and pasting the information on the Web site which my e-mail made perfectly clear I had already seen! To cut a long story short it appeared that only pre-booked groups could descend at a price of “6€/personne + 95€/groupe de 12 personnes max pour la descente (que le groupe soit composé de 5, 10 ou 12 personnes, le prix est de 95€ pour la descente)”. Furthermore they would not “make up” groups or add to pre-booked groups of fewer than 12. NO mention was made of any way of joining a publicly available group. They didn’t even mention the “free” descent which I discovered elsewhere on the Web was available on Sundays in August to celebrate the Mons European City of Culture – generally their performance hovered between the useless and the positively unhelpful! All this was as per the Web site in French here - http://www.silexs.mons.be/accessibilite/informations-pratiques-1 which makes NO mention of any way for individuals to descend. However, just before we left for Belgium, I, for some reason, checked again on the SILEX’S Web site and switched to the equivalent page in English here - "http://www.polemuseal.mons.be/en/silexs-mons/accessibility/in-practice?set_language=en – there it said “ Individuals : Saterday (sic) and Sunday at 2pm 9€ / 6€/pers. for the entrance + 8€/pers. for the descent (reservation at VisitMons 065/39 59 39 or in the SILEX’S if there is (sic) still tickets for the day). I have just double checked and, as of Aug 27 2015, the French and English versions still give these 2 completely different stories!!!

Thus it was that we arrived at the site on a Friday afternoon without a booking but with a vague hope that we might be able to get on a Saturday 2pm descent - if such a thing actually existed! Well, it did but, unfortunately by that time only one place remained and my wife generously agreed that I could have it! Of which more later! So, although the French version of SILEX’S web site doesn’t state this, it does appear that there is a descent at 2pm each Saturday and Sunday in season on which individuals can book a place. When provision of these individually bookable descents commenced and why, as of late August, they are not mentioned on the French language Web site but are on the English version, and why they were not mentioned to me by Tourist office staff in July I do not know. I also don’t know whether the local staff at Spiennes itself will allow individuals to join group tours at the time if there are spare places - but I quote what I was told by the “Agent d'accueil et de billetterie, Support administratif visites guidées VisitMons” (fine job title!!!) namely that “We don't add people to a group because it's a little complicated for the payment.”

When you arrive at the village of Spiennes you will be directed to a parking area in front of St Amand Church. A sign board/map there might be taken as an indication that the entrance is nearby. In fact it is around 10-15 minutes walk away. If you do park there make sure you read the map before setting out as the route along the Rue de Prisonniers and then left along Rue de Nouvelles to a footpath climbing the ridge to SILEX’S via a new set of metal stairs isn’t entirely clear and later signs meant for motorists might lead you the long way round! If you have a car it is probably better to ignore this first sign and continue by a circuitous road to the site itself just off the Rue du Point du Jour where there is a parking area at N 50.420982 E 3.980263 around 200 metres from SILEX’S along a boardwalk. We were told that the good burghers of Spiennes were not entirely happy about the influx of tourists likely to arise from the new visitor centre and were trying to spread the load and control traffic to/from different areas. As Clyde indicates in his review, there is a 3rd car park reached from the village of Nouvelles but also situated a distance away. Generally I found the signage as confusing as the booking system!

Having excoriated the Mons Tourist Office I should mention that the staff at SILEX’S itself were helpfulness personified and were clearly enthusiastic about offering tourists a good experience. If you have failed to acquire a reservation for a descent via the “Grand National course” already described, you are going to be limited to what is on offer in the Visitor Centre. This, in all honesty, isn’t wonderful. Inside the large circular building, top-soil has been cleared to uncover an area of flint pieces where “knapping” has taken place (these Neolithics weren’t stupid and reduced the flint to manageable shapes and sizes right next to where it was mined!!). There is also at least 1 visible surface indentation where there is a mine shaft. In fact a very detailed plan which we were shown, indicates that even the small area of this building covers some 10 or more shafts in addition to those used for the descent and, as yet, unexcavated. A factor in the design of the Visitor Centre and surrounding paths/car parks has apparently been to minimise disturbance. Thus the exhibition floor itself is largely suspended from the sides with a few small pillars to avoid the need to lay concrete foundations within the Centre. Beyond these genuine historical remains there is a small exhibition with some artefacts, both original and reconstructed, and a number of explanatory panels – interesting, but really requiring a sight of the “real thing” as well! The rest of the Visitor centre is given over to the descent shaft, a shop/ticket area, a conference room and toilets - not a lot for 9 Euro.

Those WHS enthusiasts who regard merely having been inside WH inscribed boundaries as being enough to “count” a visit should note that these extend across 170ha and include 3 mining areas - Petit-Spiennes, Camp-a-Cayaux and Versant de la Wampe (which also has remains of a Neolithic village). Since returning I have found this report about the entire site very useful - http://minesdespiennes.org/textes/Collet_Hauzeur_Lech2008.pdf. SILEX’S is situated at Petit-Spiennes and we made no attempt to explore the other areas. So, you could get your tick without even going inside the Centre! In the surrounding fields some surface disturbance from Neolithic mining is visible on the walk up from Spiennes (as well as more modern mining when the Flint was used for gun flint locks and glass making). In addition, at the moment, visitors have an additional opportunity for understanding the site. Around 30 metres away from the Centre is a large tent covering an ongoing excavation at which archaeologists were active (I gathered that it is likely to continue for some time yet). We received an excellent face to face explanation from one of them about that particular dig as well as the ability to see them working “down the hole”. The tent also contains yet more information boards and is a useful adjunct to or even free replacement for a visit to the Centre.

We then had another stroke of luck – at 4pm on that day a lecture was to be given (in English) by a visiting professor from the Polish Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (who was assisting at the dig) titled the “Neolithic Flint Mines of Poland” and, since it was “free entrance”, we thereby got in to the Centre for nothing!! Now, until I heard this talk, I just didn’t know how much I didn’t know about Flint Mining in Neolithic times!! Different types of flint and tools made from it, its geological origins, mining locations around Europe, different types of mines, trading and belief systems etc etc – as a result I have mentally “pencilled in” a visit to the Krzemionki mines (around 10kms NE of Ostrowiec) next time I am in Poland!! At least it seemed easier to get underground there! See http://krzemionki.pl/en/about-krzemionki/underground-route/ which says “The underground tourist route in Krzemionki is the world’s only such monument open regularly to visitors.”. We have also visited underground without problem at UK’s contribution to Neolithic Flint Mining archaeology at Grimes Graves in Norfolk (see http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/grimes-graves-prehistoric-flint-mine/ ). Both of these sites are referred to in the Comparative Analysis section of the Spiennes nomination file but, whilst they are stated to be “complementary”, Spiennes claims pre-eminence on the basis of size and age. Apparently a noteworthy aspect of Spiennes is the narrowness of the necks of the pits compared with the other 2 locations – which explains no doubt how a wooden staircase has been fitted in at Grimes Graves compared with a narrow vertical ladder at Spiennes!

But of course we still had to return at 2pm on the next day for my booked descent!! Our hopes that someone would have failed to turn up and create a spare place for my wife were dashed on arrival. The visit was scheduled for 90 minutes and commenced with a guided tour of the exhibition. We then got kitted up with safety harness and helmet. The descent/ascent for 12 plus guide each took around 10-15 minutes with each person being hooked up to the safety rope, descending the ladder (photo), being unhooked and the hook being returned to the surface. The explanation must have taken around another 30+ minutes and there was a bit more explanation at the surface at the end. You see the 3 bands of flint which the miners were following, a number of side galleries which indicate their method of working and another shaft filled in with debris. No photos are now allowed underground – I tried to explore why but no one seemed to know for sure. There are no prehistoric markings likely to be damaged by flash and with only 12 people the “crush” problem with selfie sticks etc which is so noticeable at major sites around the World nowadays hardly seems to apply. Even copyright hardly seems a valid reason with so many photos on the Web which can be cut and pasted – perhaps it is just another example of bureaucracy. I have similar feelings about the annual visitor limit - “Pour des raisons de conservation de la minière, reconnue par l'UNESCO en 2000, uniquement 5500 personnes peuvent descendre par an”. Although there are environment sensors underground, this, I suspect is more a sop to the locals concerned about too many visitors than a genuine preservation measure – this is hardly Lascaux with pictures being damaged by excessive moisture from the breath of visitors – and e.g Grimes Graves doesn’t seem to have a problem. Despite these restrictions and the booking difficulties I would certainly recommend anyone planning to visit Spiennes to target a public descent on the Saturday or Sunday – what you will see underground isn’t fantastic but the experience of going down really seems an essential part of a visit whose surface interest is somewhat limited.

Then came the final 2 surprises of our visit – the 12th person scheduled to descend got cold feet and couldn’t make it – so my wife was able to take her place! And, then, underground, one of the other visitors came up to me and said “Paul Tanner - I presume”!! It was Iain Jackson who was also taking in Spiennes whilst on his way to the Van Nelle get together and had spoken to my wife “up top”! He had done his booking a couple of weeks earlier by both phone and e-mail (I don't know which was first) targeting the Saturday descent which we had not even been told existed back in Early July – so the system does seem to be working a bit better now!